“Heartening” doubling of Victorian feed-in tariff

The ATA (ReNew’s publisher) has welcomed the Victorian Government move to more than double the minimum solar feed-in tariff . From 1 July 2017, the feed-in tariff for rooftop solar in Victoria will increase from 5 cents to 11.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, benefitting about 130,000 households. The change follows findings by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) in its report last year on the energy value of distributed generation.

“It’s very heartening for solar households in Victoria to have a government that is serious about renewable energy,” says Damien Moyse, the ATA’s policy and research manager. “We also congratulate the ESC for its work on the issue over the past 18 months.”

The ATA contends that solar households and businesses across Australia provide greater value into the national electricity market than the narrow methodology used to calculate feed-in tariffs up until now. The new feed-in tariff is closer to recognising the full value that distributed generation brings to our energy market, which is important as solar and other demand-side technologies continue to play a greater role in our energy mix.

We at both ReNew and the ATA would like to see other states following Victoria and accurately reflecting the value of distributed generation through their feed-in tariffs.

For analysis by Jack Gilding on the best range for feed-in tariffs, see here.